Steve Chabot: No 'moral equivalence' between neo-Nazis, protesters

Ohio Gov. John Kasich responds to reporters as he arrives at the White House Feb. 24 for a meeting with President Donald Trump. Kasich advocated for keeping Medicaid expansion as part of any Obamacare replacement. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)(Photo: Evan Vucci, AP)

"To somehow draw some kind of equivalency to somebody else reduces the ability to totally condemn these hate groups," Kasich said of Trump's renewed insistence Tuesday that "both sides" were to blame for violence in Charlottesville. Kasich has condemned only the white supremacists.

The Charlottesville rally ended with the death of one woman and injuries to at least 19, police say, at the hand of an Ohio man said to have neo-Nazi views. Authorities say James Alex Fields Jr., of Maumee, drove his car into a group of anti-fascists staging a counter-protest at the white supremacists' rally.

After initially blaming "many sides" for the Charlottesville violence, Trump on Monday called out white supremacists, then reconsidered. Some "alt-left" counter-protesters were also to blame, Trump said Tuesday, and some "very fine people" were demonstrating on both sides in Charlottesville.

The ideology of white supremacy is wrong, evil, and repulsive. Simply put, there should be no place for it in our country. (1/3)

Trump's approach reduces the presidency to "another CEO job" from the most important job in the country, Kasich said. "There is a bitterness setting in that may not be able to be removed," Kasich said. "He's got to fix this, and Republicans have got to speak out."

Kasich is a long-term critic of Trump. He ran against Trump for the GOP nomination in 2016, wrote a book this year contrasting his approaches with those of Trump and has spoken out repeatedly against Trump's policies and words as president. Kasich's allies are sustaining speculation the Ohio governor may run again in 2020, even if that means taking on Trump.

So his condemnation of Trump's actions come as no surprise. What is different this time: some rank-and-file Republicans in Congress are speaking out against Trump, although with differing degrees of directness.

Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Westwood, also took issue with Trump’s comments defending the white supremacists and equating the counter-protesters with the hate groups.

"No, there is not a moral equivalence between neo-Nazi groups and those who protest them,” Chabot said in a statement to the Enquirer. “However, violence in response to speech is never acceptable and never the answer."

In a blog post on Wednesday, Chabot said Trump should have called out the neo-Nazis and other white supremacists in his first statement on Saturday, when Trump blamed “many sides.” But Chabot also argued that “The Left and much of the mainstream media” would have criticized Trump even if the president had condemned the hate groups from the start.

“He will be the bad guy in virtually every story for the next 3 ½ or 7 ½ years,” Chabot wrote. “In order for The Left to win, they must destroy this President, and anyone who supports him.”

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, issued a series of tweets condemning bigotry and "the white supremacists who descended" on Charlottesville, but he has not directly addressed Trump’s comments.

The region's only Democrat in Congress, Sen. Sherrod Brown, flatly rejected Trump's assertion that "many sides" were to blame for the violence in Charlottesville.

"There are not ‘many sides’ to blame for #Charlottesville. There is right and wrong. White nationalism, hatred and bigotry are wrong," Brown tweeted on Saturday.

Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Columbia Tusculum, said there was only one side at fault.

“The terror in Charlottesville was, without a doubt, carried out by white supremacists," he said. "White nationalists, Neo-Nazis or any brand of hatred and bigotry should be universally condemned along with their acts of violence.”

Other area lawmakers have not yet responded to the Enquirer's requests for comment.